Le Pietre del Re: BAR International

Notebooks on Military Archaeology and Architecture 6

This work presents a preliminary report on some new studies in the field of Italian Postmedieval Archaeology. The first part refines the definition of Military Archaeology, sketched by the author in BAR S1920, 2009, Pietralunga 1744, with a studied review from the Classical to Postmedieval periods. The second part, The Stones of the King, presents the main features relating to the archaeology of field-fortifications along the western alpine frontier of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, in the second half of the 17th and the 18th century. Accordingly, part one includes the historical development of that particular alpine frontier region and its permanent (or temporary) fortifications; subsequently the text illustrates alternative research studies on 18th-century field-fortifications, while the concluding part proposes a preliminary classification of the main features of field-fortifications, with several examples and illustrations from the western Alpine territory.